Saddam Boycotts His Own Trial

The trial of Saddam Hussein continued today.

However, it lacked the main defendant; Saddam Hussein did not turn up, and his defence team said that they would not return to court unless the new chief judge resigned.

Saddam's seven co-defendants were also absent.

However, in a show of defiance, chief judge Raouf Abdel Rahman continued with the trial without them.

Abdel Rahman said:

"Because of the insistence of Saddam Hussein, Barzan al-Tikriti, Taha Yassin Ramadan and Awad al-Bander not to attend, the court has decided not to call them for this session and to review their opposition."

Adding:

"The rest were present but were causing chaos."

Saddam, four former aides and their legal team had also boycotted Wednesday's session.

This is the only way to make progress, if Saddam chooses to absent himself through grandstanding then so be it.